Based on the novel of the same name by Louis de Bernières, this 2001 film boasts gorgeous cinematography and an all-star cast (including Penélope Cruz, voted Best Actress at the European Film Awards). Christian Bale plays a fisherman fighting with the Greek army during WWII, whose fiancée (Cruz) falls in love with the local Italian commander (Nicolas Cage).

"Cruz [is] delicate and strong at the same time.... A surprisingly self-effacing Nicolas Cage plays a mandolin-toting Italian officer with a platoon of opera-singing troops in this drama of divided loyalties and shifting alliances.... Handsomely weathered John Hurt ... gives a performance of such unhackneyed dignity that it provides a moral compass for the action and helps to keep the ricocheting emotional content of the film in balance."—San Francisco Chronicle